In a New York Post commentary, former Kansas GOP chairman Kris Kobach described Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try five Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian court as “blatantly political,” arguing that it “jeopardizes the interests of the nation.” Kobach, a former Bush Justice Department official who is running for Kansas secretary of state next year, criticized Holder for “blurring the line between ordinary crimes and acts of war,” for making New York City “an enticing target for terrorists around the world” (wasn’t it already?) and for delaying justice. “Once these terrorists are placed into the civilian justice system, an avalanche of motions from their lawyers will ensue,” he wrote. “Military commissions can avoid these delays.”
All 10 months of the Obama era have been a letdown in the view of Boston Phoenix columnist Steven Stark. He argues that the president has made rookie mistakes, shown a disinterest in governing and been surprisingly divisive. And “in his quest to surpass what he’s done before and reprise his role as the nation’s Moses,” Stark wrote, “Obama appears to be on the verge of an ‘historic’ remake of one-sixth of the American economy, namely health care — despite the fact that a solid majority of Americans oppose the change. Whatever the merits, pushing for major societal change without bringing society along is a guarantee of prolonged strife, and is as unprecedented in its own way as his election was. It is — dare we say it? — very George W. Bush-like in its disregard of the popular will; meaning that, in the ultimate irony, history may pair these two as mirror reflections of one another.”
School districts across the nation are caught between decreasing funding and rising expectations. Ron Steiger, assistant chief budget officer for the Miami-Dade County public schools in Florida, described in an Education Week commentary how his district dealt with a $50 million midyear state funding cut by shrinking the size of the central office staff by 25 percent, relocating employees to the classroom, and refocusing the budget on direct student support and smaller class sizes. “We benchmarked ourselves against other large districts, and made changes that saved millions on transportation, food service and school administration,” he wrote. “We drastically cut overtime and nonessential spending on supplies” — steps that help put the district “in its strongest financial position in a decade,” he said.
It isn’t easy to find ways to use dollars more flexibly, Steiger said: But “to create districts that can flexibly streamline during financial crises, we must start with open and honest conversations about where dollars are being spent, and why. That conversation is difficult and requires a great deal of political will, which, in our case, the superintendent and school board had.”
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com and theonion.com:
LOU DOBBS LEAVES CNN FOR CARTOON NETWORK
SENATE PASSES BLAME BY VOTE OF 91-8
OBAMA’S DECLARATION OF SWINE FLU EMERGENCY PROMPTS PRO-SWINE-FLU REPUBLICAN RESPONSE
STEVEN TYLER LAID OFF FROM AEROSMITH AS BAND’S JOBLESS RATE HITS 20 PERCENT
FOX NEWS REPORTS: MILLIONS OF GRANNIES FLEE U.S. AS DEATH PANELS LOOM; Glenn Beck: ‘Run for Your Lives’
NORTHWEST PILOTS NOT IN COCKPIT; Found at Home Hiding in Box; ‘Happy Ending,’ Airline Spokesman Says
Unlike the former vice president, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wouldn’t describe President Obama’s decision-making on Afghanistan troop levels as “dithering,” but Roberts told Topeka TV station WIBW that Obama has “got to get off the dime. He’s got to make a decision.” While Obama goes through one comprehensive review after another, Roberts said, “you’re endangering the support of our allies, who wonder if we’re really going to be there. You’re certainly endangering our relationship with (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai, regardless of what you think of him, and I think you’re endangering a lot of young men and women who are under a great deal of pressure over there and their lives are at stake.”
Kansas’ GOP members of Congress oppose cutting billions of dollars in federal subsidies to privately run Medicare Advantage plans as a way to help pay for health care reform. But Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger says the cuts make sense. “When Congress is looking for savings, this is a very appropriate place to look,” Praeger told the Kansas Health Institute News Service. “I mean, keep in mind, Advantage plans are supposed to be costing less, not more.” Praeger said the private plans currently cost 13 to 14 percent more than traditional Medicare.
The 2010 Legislature expects to re-examine the death penalty and debate a state smoking ban, as well as deal with a budget crisis. But it should be brief, noted Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Ric Anderson. “If there’s ever been a year for a short session, this is it,” he wrote. “Last year, it cost $78,158 per day for the Legislature to be in session. This year, the price tag will be slightly higher because of an increase in the per diem compensation given to lawmakers, which means a 90-day session would cost well more than $7 million. Cut the session to 45 days, though, and there’s $3.5 million that could be spent somewhere else in the budget. Granted, that’s a drop in the bucket when the latest projections show revenue is $235 million short, but every little bit helps.”
To encourage lawmakers to get in and out as quickly as possible, Anderson proposed “adopting a temporary rule change allowing legislators to throw their shoes at anyone who proposes frivolous proclamations or bills, like naming an official state spore or imposing a ban on declawing cats.”
“We’ve got a whole generation who will be negatively impacted . . . by the idiots and fools in Washington and Topeka that have been making policy.” — 2010 Commission member and former Kansas GOP chairman Dennis Jones of Lakin
“We’ve cut so deep in the meat, it’s tragic.” — Lawrence schools superintendent Rick Doll
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip. By joining it, we’re draining what resources we have left.” — Silver Lake school board president Sam Grant, who opposes joining another Schools for Fair Funding lawsuit against the state
Officially, the Great Recession is over, at least for the United States. The economy recorded 3.5 percent annual growth for the third quarter of 2009. Fortunately, the administration of then-President Bush recognized the severity of the crisis and provided emergency financing for U.S. banks teetering on the brink of insolvency. Those efforts were followed up by the stimulus measures passed by his successor, President Obama. A $787 billion package is still percolating through the U.S. economy, providing a much-needed boost for spending as demand evaporated. Additional measures found some success, such as the Cash for Clunkers program, which encouraged consumers to trade in old cars for newer, more fuel-efficient models, and a federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers that helped revive a housing market whose implosion had set off the global crisis. Orders for durable goods rose 22.3 percent in the third quarter. That number was eclipsed by the 23.4 percent rise in housing sales, spurred by an $8,000 tax credit. The result was 3.5 percent growth, a return to the average rate recorded over the past 80 years. — Japan Times editorial, iStockAnalyst.com
The recession is over, we are told. The Commerce Department announced that the economy grew in the third quarter of 2009 by 3.5 percent. Great, huh? Maybe not. About half that growth came from the Cash for Clunkers program, which transferred into the third quarter auto sales that would have occurred later. The tax credit of $8,000 for first-time homebuyers stimulated some house sales. Most of the effect of the $787 billion stimulus package has already been felt. “There were few signs in the new data,” wrote the Washington Post’s Neil Irwin, “that the private sector will be able to sustain that growth once the government pulls back.” No one has much confidence that unemployment will decline significantly any time soon — or that the policies of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders will stimulate the creation of new jobs. Higher tax rates on high earners, which will take effect next year, will certainly not create jobs. — Michael Barone, the Washington Examiner
The amount of carbon dioxide that all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world collectively emit into the atmosphere is “actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo,” columnist Thomas Friedman wrote. “We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change.”
“Almost half of Congress are millionaires. Isn’t that unbelievable? So, apparently, Congress is pretty good at managing their own money.” — Jay Leno
“CBS News is reporting that President Obama has decided to send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Obama says it’s all part of his plan to finally deliver on the campaign promises made by John McCain.” — Jimmy Fallon
“Outspoken anti-immigration anchor Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN. . . . He’ll be replaced by a guy named Juan, who will do the same job for $5 an hour.” — Conan O’Brien
“On Monday, Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin will sit down and they’re going to talk for an entire hour. And I was thinking, too bad John McCain didn’t do that with her before he chose her as his running mate.” — David Letterman
Sarah Palin has begun media promotion for her book, which complains about the media. She taped an appearance on “Oprah” in which she says she knew that her interview with Katie Couric went badly (though her book accuses Couric of “badgering” her). She’s also doing a Barbara Walters interview. Palin reportedly complains in the book about how she was handled by the McCain campaign. She also said that she was stuck with a $50,000 legal bill related to vetting as a vice president candidate, but the McCain campaign said it had no knowledge of that and didn’t think it happened.
On the same day that Democrats lost the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ mansions, the state-by-state push to limit taxes and spending lost momentum. Maine voters nixed a Taxpayer Bill of Rights measure 60 to 40 percent. Washington state voters defeated similar legislation 57 to 43 percent. In both cases, wrote Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, opponents “made a case for what government does, why it’s important and why cutbacks in public services can be harmful to citizens and the common good.” He further observed: “It’s true that Washington and Maine have been reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections. But this is precisely why the defeat of these anti-tax measures was so important. Anti-government crusaders were getting ready to argue that if TABOR measures could pass in blue states, theirs was the wave of the future.”
Critics have complained that President Obama is “dithering” on deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. But two classified cables sent to Washington, D.C., by the U.S. ambassador in Kabul illustrate how the decision isn’t as simple as some portray it. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, a retired three-star general who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2006-07, warned against sending more troops until Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government becomes less corrupt and more competent, the Washington Post reported. The success of a surge in troops depends on a partnership with the Afghan government, and U.S. diplomats say they have seen little sign that Karzai plans to deal with corruption and other management problems.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the United States has limited options in dealing with Karzai.
Some are predicting that President Obama’s remarks at the Fort Hood memorial service will rank among his best. The text is worth reading. Among the standout phrases were these about the 13 who died in the shooting spree: “Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we all too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that is their legacy.”
The Kansas Department of Corrections could help its budget problems if it could deport nearly 300 inmates who are potentially illegal immigrants. But doing so either isn’t possible because of a lack of extradition agreements or may not be effective. Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told a joint House-Senate committee Tuesday that about 80 of 293 inmates who were born in other countries and may be illegal immigrants might be eligible for deportation, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. But deportation may not guarantee that inmates would remain in prison in their home countries. If inmates are freed, they could return to the United States, which might endanger public safety, Werholtz said. The inmates in question come from 28 different countries, though most (200) are from Mexico.
Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats, 48 to 44 percent, among registered voters on the latest Gallup survey question asking: “If the election was held today, which party’s candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?” Last month, Republicans trailed by 2 percentage points. The gain came from independent voters, who favored GOP candidates by 22 points.
Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La., the sole House Republican to vote for the health reform bill, said he has been getting some “pretty nasty responses” from people upset with his vote. “From downright racist remarks just to hate speech, you name it, we have it,” Cao told the New York Times. But he has no regrets about his vote, saying that it was “based on my own conscience that people should have health care.” Cao, who represents a Democratic-leaning district, said that “we have to go beyond partisan politics” and do what is “right for America.”
One challenge to reducing — or even stabilizing — the Sedgwick County Jail population is that decisions at the state level can work against those efforts. For example, Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis said last week that state courts will have to close their doors for one week each month beginning in February if the Legislature doesn’t restore $8 million to the judiciary budget. If that happens, it could slow trials and hearings and increase the time some inmates stay in the jail. The state also is increasing the penalties for repeat drunken driving starting next July, which could result in an annual increase of about 3,700 bed days in the jail. State cuts to some mental health services and to programs aimed at helping parolees integrate into society also may lead to more inmates.
Given that there are eyewitnesses to the murder of George Tiller, maybe Scott Roeder doesn’t have much to lose by confessing and saying that he plans to use the “necessity defense” at his upcoming trial, claiming that he killed Tiller to prevent a greater harm. But local pro-life groups reject Roeder’s claim that the murder was justifiable, and his public defender says that the “necessity defense” isn’t even allowed in Kansas.
